Central Illinois Photographer

I recently had the opportunity to shoot some pictures of the newly redesigned Rockabye Plush Rockers. These rockers are just adorable! I had a little 9-month-old model test each one and she really enjoyed each. It’s always fun watching a little one play with something new. She was an especially big fan of Angel the Unicorn. Each rocker plays four songs and I can tell that they would provide hours of entertainment. Check out their website to see all of the different rockers (there are so many!). My readers can receive one at 40% off with the code: summer40.

There is a Chinese proverb that says, “An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break.” This quote inspired a photography group called Red Thread Sessions which celebrates adoption through photography.

As always I am happy to be one of their volunteer photographers!

I am offering one of these sessions to adoptive families and waiving the session fee:
1. a family portrait session within the first 3 months of the finalized adoption to capture portraits of the new family,
2. a homecoming session where I meet the family at the airport upon arrival to capture the first moments together, or
3. a birth photography session to capture the birth of the adoptive child in an open adoption.

Knight Light Photography is proud to be a part of Red Thread Sessions. If you or someone you know is interested in one of these sessions, please contact me today.

My good friend, Abbey, messaged me a few weeks ago and asked if I wanted to do a weekly photo challenge with her. Each week has a different theme provided for us. We shoot something for it (without knowing what the other is shooting) and then post it every Saturday. I’ve done a few 365 projects where you take a daily photo. Though those projects are always a challenge and I feel like they’ve been good for my photography, I didn’t want to take that on this year. The 52 week challenge is just one photo every week and felt a little more my speed. We’re three weeks in so far and it’s be a lot of fun to think about the theme and then see how Abbey interprets it.

We’ve already covered the themes “simplicity”, “light”, and “lifestyle”. I knew for last week’s theme of lifestyle I wanted to shoot a more candid picture. Lifestyle photography has always interested me and it was easy to shoot my son playing, surrounded by all of his toys. This week’s theme is details so it’ll be fun to capture the little things. I’m sure some weeks I will have an idea right away what I’ll shoot like the lifestyle theme. I’m waiting to see what sparks my interest for details. Maybe if we’re baking something I’ll capture some details or playing a game I’ll get the little pieces…I’m just going to wing it.

These projects are always good for creativity and keeping your camera out. It forces you to shoot which is great for me. Sometimes when my business is busy I can forget to shoot my own family and things around me. Having the themes already planned out is good to give me some ideas but it can also be a challenge if there is nothing about it that sprouts an idea. I’m looking forward to capturing the year and doing this with my friend!

Since I blogged my destination wedding this week, I thought it might be fun to share a few of my personal shots from that trip. My husband and I were able to spend a couple extra days in Clearwater, Fl after the wedding. We celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary the month before so we decided to just consider our trip a little anniversary celebration. We rented an awesome convertible and drove everywhere with the top down. We crammed a lot into the few days we had. We visited the Clearwater Marine Aquarium where the dolphin Winter lives. We both got to touch a stingray there. We drove to John’s Pass Village and walked the boardwalk and shops there. We ate the most incredible Cubano ever at Eatin’ Fresh in Clearwater. My one goal was to read by the pool which I successfully accomplished. We also spent quite a bit of time at the beach. Every morning we’d get gas station coffee and walk the few blocks to the public beach to sit for a while. I’m certain I could spend every morning of my life doing that and never get tired of it. We did have one night out when we were invited out by my bride and groom and had a blast. The groom introduced us to a drink called Chambull which for the uninitiated is champagne with red bull.

One of my favorite memories though was the evening we drove down the coast in the car. The top was down, the air was perfectly warm and we found a great radio station that was playing classic rock. Being there with Josh and experiencing all of that was kind of perfect. We definitely missed our little buddy Jasper while we were gone but so glad to have had the opportunity to travel to Clearwater, Fl.